PEORIA — Though it’s still not clear how many signatures they’ll need, the group pushing for a change to the way political maps are drawn in Illinois is working to come up with more valid names to beat back a challenge to their constitutional amendment petitions.

“We’re diligently working” to rehabilitate some of the signatures that may be open to disqualification based on a statistical sampling that suggested only 230,000 of the 530,000 names submitted were valid, Brad McMillan, a local organizer for the Yes! for Independent Maps initiative, said Thursday.

The group needs nearly 300,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

A hearing Friday with the Illinois State Board of Elections will help determine the number of signatures needed, as well as whether or not the organization has through June 5 or into the following week — or later than that — to present their final signatures for consideration.

The group objects on a number of fronts to the process they’ve undergone, with campaign manager Michael Kolenc labeling it “rushed, uneven” with sampling that produced an “egregiously wrong validity rate.”

Kolenc also slammed the review of some questioned signatures during an after-hours evaluation by state personnel, though on all counts State Board of Elections chairman Rupert Borgsmiller has previously said that was not the case.

“We encouraged the opponents or proponents to be here,” Borgsmiller said last week. “We’re not doing this in a vacuum.”

The independent maps coalition is working to have some people who may have changed names because of marriage sign affidavits to affirm the correctness of their petition signature and also are reviewing other names that may have been knocked off.

On one front, they contend they had sufficient signatures in the first place, with Kolenc noting that “we worked to be very thorough because we knew there would be a high level of scrutiny on the campaign.”

On another front, they’re arguing that even if there were problems they should be given a fair opportunity to fix them or show why some names actually are valid rather than arriving at a conclusion quickly.

“There is no reason to rush this very important process,” McMillan said.

If the effort makes it onto the ballot, voters in November would be asked to authorize changes to the way political boundaries are drawn for state senators and representatives. It’s designed to reduce political influence in the boundary-drawing and also increase competition in districts throughout the state.

The organization also faces a court challenge against the effort.

Chris Kaergard can be reached at 686-3135 or ckaergard@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisKaergard.